Letters, November 29

Miller backs bonds: I'm one of those Laura Miller-supporting Northwest Dallas "aginners" that Jim Schutze theorizes may be the key to the success or failure of the upcoming DISD bond election ("Agin and Agin," November 22). I voted against the arena deal, against the Trinity scam and against the 2012 bill of goods. Both of my children attend private school, but I'm not flinching one bit at paying an extra $467 a year in new annual DISD school tax. Most of my neighbors and other active "aginners" I've spoken to in Northwest Dallas feel exactly the same.

We want to live in a city whose priorities are back on track, and that absolutely includes paying the tab for massive improvements in the neglected DISD infrastructure.

Jim Schutze says that Laura Miller is "opaque on these deep-running questions." Huh? I heard Laura Miller's speech at her campaign kickoff rally at Stevens Park on Sunday, November 18. I saw Jim Schutze there, too. I clearly recall hearing Laura Miller state that she didn't buy the long-standing claim that the mayor of Dallas has nothing to do with schools, and she clearly said that as mayor, she would do whatever it takes to give Dallas a world-class school system--including working to pass the DISD bond election.

What's opaque about that, Jim?

Tim DickeyDallas

Chick-Fil-A, Pt. 2

No trivial matter: The person responsible for the inhumane treatment of baby chicks at the Dallas Zoo ("Frozen Food," November 22) must be identified. Freezing chicks alive, or leaving them to starve for three days instead of gassing them, sounds trivial on its surface. After all, they're just chicks, and they were going to die anyway. But consider the mind-set of the person responsible for this treatment. Animal cruelty is no trivial matter. Jeffrey Dahmer began his monstrous career with animal cruelty, and look how that turned out.

Brad HorineDallas

Mountain Folk

Photographers' ethics: How delightful it is to read a balanced (and well-written) article on the subject of exploitational (or possibly or potentially exploitational) photography ("Mountain View," November 22). The exact, or even approximate, location of the ethical line for photographers and (in my case) collectors is extremely fuzzy. Are photographers like Adams (and Salgado and Bruce Gilden and Sturges and a thousand others in a thousand different ways, particularly those who photograph the exotic or the relatively disadvantaged and return to the marketplace with prints for sale) big-time thieves or, as Cartier-Bresson has said, merely pickpockets? And can such photographers get away with it by donating to the people they photograph the vague but oft-repeated "portion of the proceeds" of the sale? Are they deluding themselves or us?

Your short piece on Shelby Lee Adams thoughtfully touched on some of these issues, and for that I thank you.

Joseph BaioNew York

Mom for Mayor

Jealous girls: This horribly biased story on Laura Miller ("Mommie Dearest," November 22) sounded just like a note passed under a desk by a jealous high school girl. The intent to present her (and motherhood) in a negative light was so blatantly obvious, I found it laughable.

Sonja HohenseeGarland

Doing the right thing: Running a successful government body is not, repeat not about forming a coalition government ("It's Her Nature, Stupid!" November 8). It's about doing the right thing to maintain as little government intrusion as possible. To keep on with the absurd notion that the majority rules (when that majority is wrong) is what helps keep politics as usual. Whoever rules by common sense is the winner. And we know that is never in the majority.

Jeffery ChernVia e-mail

Stray Thoughts

Hard choices: This issue ("Puppy Ciao," October 25) is much more important than people realize. I live in Oak Cliff. We have lots of stray animals.

Let me tell you a story about a recent weekend. My husband and I were coming home from a birthday party on a Sunday evening. It was dusk, and my husband saw a kitten in the road. We pulled over and I went to check on this tiny, 2-month-old kitten that was sitting right in the road. As I approached, I realized something was seriously wrong. The kitten didn't run, or meow, or come when I called her. It just sort of turned toward me and cowered.

This kitten was filthy, flea-ridden and extremely ill. It was completely blind in both eyes. The eyes were so swollen and inflamed and full of pus and mucus that it looked to me as if there were no eyes at all.

I took the kitten to an emergency vet clinic in Irving. The kitten had a severe upper respiratory infection. It was literally clinging to life. The vet told me that I could pay up to $500 to hospitalize the cat for three days, and following that, it would need intensive treatment at home for weeks, and it may never regain its vision. Or, I could have the kitten euthanized.

There was no way I could afford this kitten or care for it. So I paid $55 to have it put to sleep.

My point is that if the city had the capabilities to deal with the stray-animal problem, we could deal with such situations effectively. Feral cats should be picked up. We need a campaign to teach people about spaying and neutering. We need programs to spay and neuter that are cost-effective.

This is a serious issue. Thank you for informing the residents of Dallas on the latest concerning this issue.

Jennifer KingVia e-mail

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